As Trump supporters continue their campaign of “no collusion! no obstruction!” one has to wonder if they’ve actually read the Mueller report. In fact, one might even wonder if they can read, at all. House Democrats are here to help them out.
House Democrats are reading the Mueller report in its entirety.
Jerrold Nadler, whose committee voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress, has started reading.
Watch live here: https://t.co/hbHhApVpee pic.twitter.com/QH1zcrgPw8
— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) May 16, 2019
Today, Democrats elected to the House of Representatives held a reading of the full, redacted, 442-page Mueller report. They streamed the reading live so that everyone, including Trump supporters and the current attorney general who said that he made a decision that Trump is innocent without ever having actually read the report, can hear what it actually says. Most importantly, it included the following lines:
‘Because we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment, we did not draw ultimate conclusions about the President ‘s conduct. The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment. At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.’
#TrumpIsNotAboveTheLaw Read The Mueller Report! It is super easy reading and does not exonerate @realDonaldTrump – that is why his Roy Cohn is blocking the full release w/documents & blocking McGahn & Mueller from public hearings! #trumpobstructed pic.twitter.com/x5OC3v6urB
— Dana Zwerling (@DZwerling) May 14, 2019
They will also read aloud Mueller’s conclusion, which includes references to both President Bill Clinton and President Richard Nixon. Clinton was impeached and Nixon resigned to avoid the embarrassment of impeachment. The country is still waiting to see either of these things happen to a man who clearly committed 10 separate felony acts of obstruction of justice.
‘The protection of the criminal justice system from corrupt acts by any person-including the President-accords with the fundamental principle of our government that “[n]o [person] in this country is so high that he is above the law.” United States v. Lee, I06 U.S. 196, 220 (1882); see also Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. at 697 ; United States v. Nixon , supra.’
Umm does this help? Do you have trouble with the “does not exonerate” or how bout “if we had confidence president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice we would so state” pic.twitter.com/1Olwrzw6G7
— Nicholas Cicchetti (@cicchetts22) May 13, 2019
The instances of obstruction that Mueller laid out are explained as motivated by Trump’s desire to save himself and his family the embarrassment of being exposed as criminals and, worse, the ability to continue making money off the presidency and hide their financial missteps.
‘Direct or indirect action by the President to end a criminal investigation into his own or his family members’ conduct to protect against personal embarrassment or legal liability would constitute a core example of corruptly motivated conduct. So too would action to halt an enforcement proceeding that directly and adversely affected the President’s financial interests for the purpose of protecting those interests.’
For video of the full reading, see below:
Featured image screenshot via YouTube